Armies of Death (book)
:For other uses of '''Armies of Death', see'' Armies of Death Armies of Death is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Nik Williams and originally published in 1988 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003 and 2011. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 36th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-032486-0) and 14th in the Wizard "Series 1" (ISBN 1-84046-436-4) and 15th in "Series 2" (ISBN 1-84831-234-2). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series. Creation Background - Back Cover ("Dragon" Edition)}} The reader assumes the role of the winner of the ''Trial of Champions, who has a newly won purse of 20,000 Gold Pieces. The reader must defeat an Evil Shadow Demon, Agglax and his undead army and stop them from taking over the region of Allansia using an army bought with the coins. Introduction The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). Unique Rules *The player begins the adventure with no Provisions. - pg.16 *The book contains rules for mass-battle combat between opposing armies. - pg.11-13 Equipment List The book makes no reference to any equipment carried at the start of the adventure. Cover and Illustrations Cover The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Christos Achilleos. This was the last book in the range (bar the exception of Return to Firetop Mountain) to feature the number of the book on the front cover. The first printing of Armies of Death marked the point at which the series started boasting on the back cover that the range had "over 10 million copies sold worldwide!" This small fact was celebrated by having this back cover banner (for this Fighting Fantasy gamebook only) printed in foil like the credit on the front cover and, unlike later printings, the foil was gold instead of bronze. The only other books printed in this way (with this back cover "over 10 million copies sold worldwide!" being in foil writing) were the Black Dragon Sub-Format of the Sorcery! series and the first two books of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy series. as shown on the inside front cover of Curse of the Mummy]] When the book was republished by Wizard the cover was once again re-worked, this time by Martin McKenna. There was no Wizard "Special Limited Edition" for this book. With their 2003 reprint of the title, Wizard did not print a "Special Limited Edition" due to the pressures of releasing the series in at the time. However, on the inside cover of a number of the later books, the "Special Limited Edition" cover of Armies of Death was shown along with the covers of other Wizard editions. The 2011 edition makes use of a section of the previous edition's cover art. Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Nik Williams. There were 34 full page illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 6, 17, 28, 39, 52, 63, 76, 87, 100, 112, 121, 134, 143, 155, 166, 178, 188, 199, 209, 217, 230, 241, 252, 265, 278, 292, 307, 323, 338, 352, 368, 381, 394 and 400. The colour map on the inside front cover was by Leo Hartas. It was not reproduced for the Wizard edition. Intertextual References It is a sequel to previous Fighting Fantasy book Trial of Champions (the player assumes the role of the adventurer who successfully completed this earlier book), which in turn was a sequel to Deathtrap Dungeon. Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of Armies of Death *Agglax - Shadow Demon *Big Belly Man *Captain Barnock *Drek *Lexon *Max *Obigee *The Oracle *Sukumvit Charavask *Vine - Hill Man Locations *Anvil *Claw *Darkwood Forest *Fang *Forest of Fiends *''Helen's House'' *Icefinger Mountains *Karn *Kaypong *Red River *River Kok *Starstone Caves *Stonebridge *''The Black Dragon'' *Zengis Encounters *Calacorm *Chaos Warrior *Elite Fanatic *Enk *Fish Man *Giant Lizard *Giant Spider *Goblins - Regular/Sewer *Hill Trolls *Humans - Axemen/Barman/Robbers/Town Guard *Jip *Laz *Max *Mountain Orc *Mudgrinder *Nandibears *Ogre *Rogue *Rock Man *Shapechanger *Tree Man *Werewolf Further Notes *Ian Livingstone makes a cameo appearance as Obigee, the landlord of Helen's House in Zengis who is exceptionally proud of his sailing achievements, in the illustration accompanying (368) of Armies of Death.25th Anniversary Edition of - pg.221 *The answer to the question posed at (248) is not contained within the book itself and can only be found in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World. Series 2 Additions *Pre-generated player characters: Arran Gottspeed, Baldar Liefsson, and Ariel Elfheart *11 paragraphs from Appointment with F.E.A.R.. Errors *The Wizard Books "Series 2" edition lists Nicholas Halliday as the illustrator of the cover when it is Martin McKenna. *The Wizard Books "Series 2" edition offers to the player 3 pre-generated characters. Each is listed as starting with 6 Provisions and a different Potion, despite the fact that those are not given to characters generated in the regular manner. Dedication Puffin Edition To Helen, Andrew and Sarah - pg.5 Wizard Edition For Steve, Skye, Mark, Peter and Clive of the Games Night Club - pg.5 See Also *''Casket of Souls'' *''Dicing with Dragons'' Reviews External Links *Character Sheet - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=12 Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series 1) at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=1285 Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series 2) at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=80 Armies of Death at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb36.htm Armies of Death at the Internet Archive record of the old] Fightingfantasy.com - Retrieved 2019-10-26 References Category:1988 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series 2